Brooklyn Brownstone, Gilded Accents

Nov. 19, 2012 11:33 a.m. ET

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Pam Peterson, 52 years old, purchased this townhouse in Brooklyn's Carroll Gardens neighborhood with her then-husband, Sahin Cetinkaya, for $300,000 in 1994, according to public records. Ms. Peterson, who grew up in Greenwich Village, was living a few blocks away from this circa 1890 building when she decided she needed more space for her growing family.
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When she first moved in, the home had shag carpeting and 'bordello pink' walls, Ms. Peterson said. But as renovations began, the owners realized that many of the home's original features, like the crown moldings and oak parquet flooring, were still intact. One of the more interesting features, Ms. Peterson said, was the pier mirror, shown here, a long mirror between two windows that was common in high-society homes of the 1800s. She placed the total cost of renovations 'in the hundreds of thousands.'
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Ms. Peterson said she was hesitant, at first, to make any changes to the mirror, which was brown when they moved in. But after scraping away years of paint, she discovered that it was originally gold-colored. To restore the mirror, she and her ex-husband brought in a team of gold leaf experts to apply 24-karat gold leafing over the entire surface. She said the project cost about $10,000.
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Ms. Peterson, a real-estate investor, said what she'll miss most about living here, aside from the friends she's made in the neighborhood, is the size of the home. 'It's been nice to have a big, rambling house with lots of nooks and crannies to hide out in,' she said. The home is roughly 4,200 square feet. A sliding door to the dining room with the original etched-glass panels is pictured here.
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The apartment is separated into a triplex apartment, which Ms. Peterson and her children use, and a duplex rental apartment. In total, the home has seven bedrooms and four bathrooms. Ms. Peterson's bedroom, with a wood burning fireplace, is shown here. As much as she loves a good fire, she says it didn't get enough use. 'When you have five children, by the end of the day, you're not thinking fireplace,' she joked. 'You're thinking sleep.'
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One of the bathrooms is shown. Ms. Peterson was glad for the size of the bathtubs in the home. 'I could throw like three of them in there,' she said of her children. Her youngest is now 11 years old and the oldest is college-aged. With the children getting older, she's looking to move into a smaller home n the neighborhood.
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On the lower level is a bar and den, which she calls the 'speakeasy' for its prohibition-era feel. The room was left mostly untouched, she said, with the exception of a few spooky decorations around Halloween.
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The main kitchen area was renovated around 10 years ago and features new cabinetry and granite countertops. A door in the rear leads to a deck overlooking the garden.
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The home was listed in November for just under $3 million with Lindsay Barton Barrett of Corcoran Group.
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